Helping Strangers is What It's All About
by Gallifrey Immigrant
Summary: A child in a blizzard, a man in the road, and a blue cap. warning for (slight) discussion of bullying


A small boy with a blue cap on his head walked through the cold snow. It was cold outside, but he didn't care. He was too busy looking out for a boy named Jimmy Knot. He looked with furtive eyes around the street, fearing to see Jimmy's unique skull-and-bones shirt. He was so busy, that he tripped over a lump in the snow.

"Ow!" said Richard Bernard (he hated the name and how it rhymed, especially after the nightmares of Jimmy repeating it over and over). Pushing himself off the floor, he looked closer at the lump. He brushed the lump of snow, and saw black under the snow.

Then the lump moved, and looked at him.

Richard stared back, afraid. The object stood up, brushed itself off, and smiled at the boy.

"How do you do?" said the stranger, eyes twinkling.

The boy said "Just fine." He hesitated, and added "Sorry for tripping on you."

"No apology needed; I was in the road," said the man.

"I'm Richard Ber—Richard," he said. The boy looked the man up and down. He had trousers too big for him, shirt too small for him and questions marks in odd places—even his umbrella. The man apparently had a terrible sense of fashion.

"I'm the Doctor," said the man. Richard immediately realized this man was some sort of homeless crazy. No doctor dressed like that.

"Well, good day," said the boy, wanting to get as far away from this man as possible. He turned around, and then stopped in his tracks. He could hear Knot's bike coming down the road. The bell on the front of his bike was unmistakable.

"Everything okay?" asked the Doctor.

Robert gave a fake smile, and said "I've...just gotten tired, and I'll think I'll sit with you right now."

The Doctor brushed off some snow from the sidewalk, and gestured Richard to sit. The boy sat down, and for a few minutes they just sat in silence. Richard strained his ears to hear whether Knot was getting closer.

"So, Richard, how are you enjoying Christmas?" said the Doctor.

Richard realized the Doctor was correct—it was Christmas. Richard had forgotten.

"It's going wonderful," Richard lied.

"Hmm," said the Doctor.

Richard waited for the Doctor to elaborate. When the man stayed silent, Richard added "And how's your Christmas?"

"Decidedly not wonderful," responded the Doctor. He began drawing patterns in the snow.

"I'm sorry. Must be hard, not having a home and all," said the boy. The Doctor's head shot up and his eyebrows were raised. Richard immediately realized he committed a faux pas.

"I never said I was homeless,"said the Doctor. He looked more amused than offended.

"I'm sorry," apologized Richard quickly , "it's just with you being in the middle of the road, and your clothes—not that there's anything wrong with your clothes—I just made the assumption..."

"Well, you know what they say about assumptions," said the Doctor. He frowned, and said "Though I've never figured out why an assumption turns you and the person you're speaking with into a donkey."

"I'm not sure if figures of speech have to make sense, as I never figured out why was the cat in the bag," said Richard.

"I'll be sure to ask Benny, though she'll probably just laugh at me," grumbled the Doctor. Then he (quicker than Richard could track) drew his face to Richard's ear, and whispered "I think whoever following you is gone now."

Richard jumped away from the man, and stared.

"Oh, it was easy to figure out that something wasn't going right with you ," said the Doctor. His eyes seemed to pierce into Richard.

"Are you telepathic or something?"said Richard.

"Well, that depends on _which one_ of me you're asking," said the Doctor, "but telepathy is not how I knew that you lied about having a good Christmas. For one, no one who's having a good Christmas spends it talking to a stranger, in the middle of a snowstorm. Where are your friends?"

"I've got lots of friends!" crowed Richard defensively.

"I'm sure you do, but none of them are here right now. And I can tell you're running from someone from how jumpy you are. Someone on a bike, from the bells, and tires turning, that I heard," said the Doctor.

Richard hesitated, then muttered "It's just some kids."

"You mean bullies?"said the Doctor.

"It's none of your business!" snapped Richard. He felt silly, talking to some stranger on a sidewalk.

The Doctor nodded and said "So it is bullies. Why do they pick on you?"

"Because I'm different," said Richard, quietly.

"Different is wonderful! I've spent my whole life being different, and look where it got me!" said the Doctor, grinning.

Richard chose not to point out that where it got the Doctor was in the middle of a snowstorm, apparently alone. Instead, she said "I don't really want to talk any more about it."

"Fine then," said the Doctor, clearly annoyed. He continued drawing in the snow.

"Tell me why you're here, since you're not homeless," said Richard. He found this guy weird, but oddly likable.

Without looking up from his drawing, the Doctor said "The story's long. The short version is, that I lost my house."

"So you are homeless," Richard smirked.

"Well, my home is mobile. Let's just say that a man (or woman, depending on his current host), named Fenric...has, in revenge for something I did several years before, possessed my mobile home, and my 2 friends are still in it. And I wasn't sure what to do to get it back," said the Doctor.

"So you just lied down here in despair?" said Richard.

"I wouldn't call it despair—" said the Doctor.

"No excuses," said the Richard. "You can't just give up, and let someone steal your house!"

"As I was saying before I was so rrrudely interrupted," said the Doctor, "I got an idea while I was talking to you, and sent out a beacon for my house. My people's language is the one thing Fenric can't translate." He pointed his umbrella toward the snow drawings.

"So snow drawings are going to get your home to return to you?" asked Richard.

"It's an ingenious plan. The frozen hydrogen will create an automatic psionic link!" said the Doctor.

Richard was starting to realize this man was insane after all.

Richard suddenly heard a loud sound, and at first thought it was Knot. But the sensible part of his mind reasoned that Knot's bike didn't sound like his grandma having a wheezing fit.

"Ah, that's my house!" said the Doctor.

"Your mobile home's engine doesn't sound very environmentally friendly," Richard noted.

"Nonsense! It's been designed to have minimal entropy emmissions!" said the Doctor proudly.

The Doctor stretched, and said "I hope Ace and Benny will be alright." Richard heard quite a bit of sadness in his tone.

"I guess this is goodbye?" asked Richard, feeling oddly sad inside.

"Richard, it's been a pleasure," said the Doctor. Then his eyes got that piercing look again, and he said "I have one last question for you...do you like your first name?"

She thought long and hard for a second, and said "No."

"Thank you for an honest answer. By the way, Knot's already gone home, by my estimate. I know times are rough for you, but...well, I think you're smart enough to strive past all of them. You were willing to talk to a crazy not-actually homeless person. That takes what my friend Ace would call guts, and that makes you a bigger person then all the people who torment you.."

Richard said "Thank you...but you sound like every other adult. You're not the one who has to deal with the bullies every day, or called unnatural-"

"In my line of work, I deal with bullies every day," said the Doctor. He continued "But you're right. It's easy to make speeches, when I can go walk away..." The Doctor's face clouded with thought, as if he was being reminded of many other things. Snow was making his clothes slowly whiter, but he barely noticed it, and Richard began to wonder if the umbrella was just for show.

"Thanks for caring, anyway, and Merry Christmas" said Richard. The Doctor snapped out of his reverie, and nodded.

"Do you need me to accompany you home?" offered the Doctor.

"I know my way," said Richard. He shook the snow off his cap.

The Doctor finally got up, and said "Thanks for listening, and Merry Christmas." Patting Richard on the head, he began to walk away.

As he was walking, he said "I'll get my friend Bernice to find out the origin of that "cat in the bag" phrase. If I can find it, I'll send it to you in a letter. Consider it a belated Christmas present!"

"Wait a minute," said Richard.

The Doctor did a spin on his umbrella, one hand in his pocket. "Yes?"

"I never told you the bully's name," said Richard. He frowned and continued "How did you know his name was Knot?"

The Doctor grinned, and said "I guess I'm telepathic?"

Richard put a gloved hand to a patch of hair in frustration, and realized the cap was gone. By the time Richard turned to ask whether the Doctor saw it, the strange man was gone, and Richard could hear that wheezing, groaning sound again. When Richard finally got home, no one knew who the man was.

A few days later, Knot was caught assaulting another student by a headmaster. He was going to be let free, but from the recommendation of a mysterious Prof. Bernice Summerfield, he was suspended indefinitely. This didn't make Richard's life suddenly perfect; Richard was still bullied sometimes in school. But it did mean he could, at least, walk back and forth from school without being picked on. And eventually, Richard went to college, and got better friends that actually did walk alongside her at Christmas time.

And the odd stranger? Benny Bernand (she originally was going to change her name to Bernice but that might have been a worse name combination than the original) forgot all about the man over time. Until, exactly ten years and a day from that Christmas meeting, she received a piece of mail by a Dr. John Smith.

Inside it was a blue cap.


End file.
